ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK is part of the platform for contemporary culture ONE, also organiser of the festivals ONE DESIGN WEEK and ONE DANCE WEEK. Founded in 2002 as an art, culture and lifestyle magazine, EDNO has realised more than 100 publications, concerts, parties, exhibitions, happenings, the book The Bulgarian Nouvelle Vague, various competitions, and the festivals Sofia Contemporary and Mellow Music Festival. All of them turn ONE into a significant and sustained platform, which plays an important role in popularising contemporary culture, both in Bulgaria and abroad.

ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK is an yearly festival for contemporary architecture and the city and it aims at raising the level of awareness about urbanity, at stimulating an active and responsible behaviour towards the city, as well as at initiating actions for a positive and visible improvement of the quality of architecture and urban planning of Bulgarian cities.

ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK started in 2008 as Sofia Architecture Week and changed its name to ONE due to its moving from Sofia to Plovdiv in 2013.

OAW 2014, opening of “The Great Expectations” exhibition

OAW 2014, The clash of the titans workshopOAW 2014, the construction of the Festival hub

THE TEAMof the festival consists of young and ambitious professionals from various fields. Many of them have an extensive experience both in Bulgaria and abroad. Besides them, for the realisation of ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK join forces many dedicated interns and volunteers. The festival’s execution would be unthinkable without the financial and logistic support of our partners: from private companies to cultural institutions, from factories to embassies. All of us, together, work for the cause of raising the quality of the urban environment, which we inhabit.

PARTNERSof ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK have been numerous Bulgarian, regional and international organisations. The range of our cooperation experience goes from involving local NGOs to working with world-known institutions. The festival has collaborated with most of the European architecture festivals or biennials, as well as with a variety of architecture centres. It is also in frequent partnership with many foreign legations or cultural centres in Bulgaria. Last, but not least, the festival works almost on an yearly basis with various international funding institutions.

STRUCTUREThe program of the festival has been steadily growing with each new edition. At present there are few distinct modules, in which all program elements are grouped:

•Forum•Exhibitions•Events: workshops, debates, events, screenings, tours, initiatives, competitions•Interventions•Kids module•Entertainment program

Exhibitions

Interventions Kid’s program

EventsForum

Entertainment program

OAW 2014, Film screening at the Festival Hub

FORUMThe Forum is the most formal element of the festival. It consists of one or two day-long series of lectures during which Bulgarian professionals are informed about various aspects of the work of internationally well-known names. There have been more than 110 lectures, presented by people such as Noura al Sayeh, Jan Schellhoff, Bernardo Secchi, Minsuk Cho, Fritz Haeg, Fang Zhening, Georgi Stanishev, Nuno Brandao Costa, Anne Lacaton, Rudi Ricciotti, Ivan Kucina, Peter Fattinger, Walter van Dijk, Andre Kempe, Emilio Tunon Alvarez, Julien de Smedt, Sasa Randic.

SAW 2010, Forum

OAW 2014, ForumOAW 2014, Forum

OAW 2014, Forum

EXHIBITIONSSince its first edition until now, the festival has shown 71 Bulgarian or international exhibitions, which have covered various topics concerning the contemporary city, both in Bulgaria and abroad. The number of exhibitions self-produced by the festival has been increasing with the years and some of those have been also shown abroad.

SAW 2013, “In and out of the context” exhibition

SAW 2010, “20 years of private architecture” exhibitionOAW 2014, “Weltstadt” exhibition SAW 2010, “Boom/Room - new Estonian architecture” exhibition

EVENTS - DEBATESThe festival has become also a discussion platform for current phenomena occurring in the urban environment. With debaters from home and abroad, the topics which have been discussed have ranged from local planning legislation to the relationship between film and architecture. In more than 30 occasions in the 7 years of its existence, the festival has become a discussion ground, involving both professionals and the broader audience.

SAW 2011, “Architecture and politics” debate

OAW 2014, “Kapana talks” discussionSAW 2011, “Film and Architecture” discussion

OAW 2014, “Steel architecture” lecture

EVENTS - WORKSHOPSProviding an alternative platform for Bulgarian students has been one of the basic aims of the festival. With 31 workshops behind its back ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK has met throughout the years local architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, interior and urbanism students with mentors from all-over the world. Besides workshops for a specialised audience we have been also able to provide workshops open towards a non-professional audience.

SAW 2009, “UASG Open” workshop

OAW 2014, the construction of the “Festival Hub”

OAW 2014, the “Clash of the titans” workshop

OAW 2014, the “Clash of the titans” workshop

EVENTS - COMPETITIONSStimulating the practice of choosing a designer as a result of a competition practice has been an aim striven for through all of ONE’s festivals. ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK organised two major international festivals (Metrostation 20 and Plovdiv Central Square), as well as one national competition (The House of Culture Square). All competitions managed to attract hundreds of participants from many countries.

SAW 2012, “Station 20” competition

OAW 2014, the “House of culture square” competitionOAW 2014, the “Central Square” competition

INTERVENTIONSIn 2011 and 2012 partially and in 2014 as an integral part of the festival we started realising interventions in public space. These interventions are aimed at leaving a positive and visible trace of the festival’s activities in the city. Each intervention is the product of a collaboration between the festival and invited architects and/or artists. Some of the interventions have been only temporary and rather ephemeral, while others have left a lasting mark in the public space of the city.

OAW 2014, “Facade audio mapping” intervention OAW 2014, “k/Kapana writes” intervention

OAW 2014, the construction of the “Festival Hub”

OAW 2014, “DE-nivelation” interventionOAW 2014, “At home he’s a tourist” intervention

OAW 2014, “Festival Hub” intervention

KIDS MODULEAt ONE we believe that working with the very young ones is the right way to stimulate the creation of an active and engaged society. The festival offers a specially curated children’s program each year. In it we involve various age groups, from the very young to teenagers. ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK has also an established partnership with many schools in Sofia and Plovdiv.

OAW 2014, “Hackidemia” workshop

OAW 2014, “I create” event

OAW 2014, “RE-chair” workshop

OAW 2014, “RE-chair” workshop

SAW 2011, “Future city” game

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMAs attracting nonprofessional audience is another of the festival’s aims, organising an entertainment program has become an integral part of ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK. In the form of open-air lounge zones, events at special locations and parties inside remarkable buildings the festival has been steadily attracting a large audience of both citizens of Plovdiv and of other major cities in Bulgaria.

OAW 2014, Melformator’s main party

OAW 2014, music program at the Festival HubOAW 2014, opening

OAW 2014, music program at the Festival HubOAW 2014, the bar at the Festival Hub

UN-COMMON RIVERis the topic of ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK for 2015, when the attention will fall on

the Maritsa River and its integration in the urban environment

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THE MARITSA RIVERThe Maritsa River is a very distinct urban element of Plovdiv. It had played a major role in the foundation of the city and used to serve as a trade connection for centuries. Nowadays Maritsa simply gets crossed by bridges and connects nothing. The currents have been tamed within the stone embankments and the river has exited completely the common consciousness of Plovdiv’s residents. Maritsa is the largest unused urban space of the city.

Image source: Zdravko Mitev

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View from the north bank of Maritsa

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CURRENT CONDITIONBesides the occasional fisherman or enthusiastic jogger there is almost none who goes to Maritsa nowadays. The public spaces along it are badly maintained and it is also difficult to get down to the river bed. Even the pedestrians-only bridge offers no views towards the water. But Maritsa, as part of EU’s natural habitats network Natura 2000, makes Plovdiv a city with a natural park in its very heart. Besides that the river is flanked by buildings of various ages and architectural styles. That offers Maritsa the potential to become a new distinguishable area of Plovdiv.

Image source: Zdravko Mitev

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The covered pedestrian bridge

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A COMMON PHENOMENONMaritsa runs not only through Plovdiv, but is also present in other cities of the region too, like Edirne in Turkey and Alexandroupolis in Greece. At the same time the relation between a river and its city is an internationally discussed topic. The lectures, workshops, exhibitions, debates and interventions, which will take place in Plovdiv in 2015 will be not only of local importance, but also of an international relevance. River- and water-fronts have become areas of social, ecological and financial interest all over the world. Maritsa is still awaiting its new role for Plovdiv.

The location of Plovdiv, Edirne and Alexandropoulis

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Han River, Seoul, South Korea Le Seine, Paris, France

Thames, London, UK

Festa del Redentore, Venice, Italy

Lake Tahoe, US

Spree, Berlin, GermanyOpera House, Oslo, Norway

Kobenhavns Havnebade Copenhagen, Denmark

Cheong Gye Cheon, Seoul, South Korea

Sydney, Australia

Floating island, New York, US

Strand aan de Maas, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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INTEGRATED URBAN DEVELOPMENTAs part of its long-term plans Plovdiv Municipality has started developing site-specific Integrated Urban Development Plans. One area, for which such a plan is being developed, covers a portion of the Maritsa River, its embankments and a neighbourhood to the south of the river. The Municipality plans to develop the area along the river as a recreational space. This would be the first step towards a complete renovation of the river banks within the Municipality’s borders. Work on this area is due to start in 2015.

The intervention zone, which includes the river

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The river locks

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MERVE BEDIR - curator 2015Merve Bedir is an Ankara (Turkey) born architect living in The Netherlands. Merve has worked on urban renewal projects in Salzburg, Copenhagen and various Turkish cities. In 2012-13 she was a curator for the Netherlands Architecture Institute. Merve has also been a guest to the Kadir Has University (Istanbul), Studio X (Beijing), ECAL (Lausanne) and various other universities. She has collaborated, amongst others, with the International New Town Institute, the Shenzhen Biennale and the African Center for Cities. Merve is partner at the Rotterdam and Istanbul based office Land+Civilisation Compositions.

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MANIFESTUn-common RiverThis is an experiment of commoning the Maritsa River. Commoning as questioning the nature of the river as a border. A border between nature and culture, north and south, “European” and “non-European”, private and public… Commoning as the action of connecting, sharing, making, opening, relating and producing together. Commoning as exploring new co-existences and not as creating a substitute to the existing. Ideas, seeds, water, air, cultures and spaces, which we collectively produce each and every day, all of those are common(s). They are the results of collective efforts, research, thought and creation through time and regions. During ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK 2015, we will be exploring the networks in Plovdiv and creating new ones locally and across countries, through spaces of collective action along and across the river, on and under the water. We will be reading, listening, living, debating, sun-bathing, imagining, rowing, learning, doing, producing and re-producing. ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK 2015 has as its main goal claiming the Maritsa River through commoning it. The festival will attempt bringing the river, as a forgotten element of Plovdiv, back to the city. It will attempt bringing the publics of Plovdiv, river Maritsa, and those who share the common(s) together along the river.

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Image source: Zdravko Mitev

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UN-COMMON RIVERwww.edno.bg/onearchitectureweek

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